1) "Damned clever, those Brazilians! [AtE Aug 82] What material do they use for those penstocks with water rushing through at Mach 2,000?"
L. G. M., Calgary, Alberta
OK, OK, the original in a German monthly about the Itaipu dam (on the border of Brazil and, dam it, Paraguay, not Uruguay) said that each turbine swallows 750 m^3/sec, and in the conversion by pocket calculator the editor must have used his feet. 1 m^3 = 1.3079 cubic yards, if we made it past the typesetter and proof reader, so that the water rushing through the turbine should have been 980.9 cubic yards per second, and with luck we even have the decimal point in the right place.
2) The liquid sodium at Almeria [AtE June 82] does not need more heat to raise its temperature by one degree, writes S.B., Corrales, N.M.; metals have a much lower heating capacity than water, and their higher density does not make up for it. We looked it up, and he is right. However, a cubic foot of liquid sodium at the Almeria Solar plant does store more heat than a cubic foot of water at Solar One in California to tide it over sunless periods for the simple reason that it is at a far higher temperature¾about 800 degrees F (still below its boiling point).
3) Electromagnetic Pulse, nuclear plants and panic monger Basdekas [AtE July 82]: A report EMP and Nuclear Plant Safety by P.R. Barnes was published in Nuclear Safety, May/June 1977, pp.322-328; its conclusion, in part, is "EMP would be a nuisance to nuclear plants, but it is not considered a serious threat to plant safety." Since then, the NRC has funded a new study which is now about 85% complete; a progress report of April 1982 shows preliminary, but very similar conclusions.
4) Right after we wrote about South Africa, we received the first issue of a delightful new magazine, Free Market (Box 52713, Saxonwold 2132, South Africa, $25/year¾about 90% of it is in English).
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Vol. 10, No. 1
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Issues Issue/No.: Vol. 10, No. 1 Date: November 23, 2004 02:14 PM Title: The Profits in Cancer
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
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